The hospital staff shifting a 5-year-old rape victim to AIIMS Hospital for better medical treatment from Swami Dayanand Hospital of north east Delhi, in New Delhi. (HT Photo/Sonu Mehta)

The condition of the five-year-old girl, who was raped and brutalised allegedly by her 22-year-old neighbour, is today stable though she has suffered serious injuries in the assault, doctors attending on her said.

"The girl is stable, conscious, alert and talking. All her vital parameters are under permissible limit. She is not in ICU but under close monitoring," Sharma said.

The girl, who was held captive in a house in Gandhi Nagar with no food and water, was shifted to AIIMS last evening from Swami Dayanand Hospital.

"The detailed medical examination and surgical procedure was done under general anaesthesia at 12:15 am. She was found to be having serious injuries.

"At present her general condition is stable and she has been under close observation and monitoring. She has been put on IV fluid and antibiotics, she is conscious, alert and all her parameters are within normal limits.

"Definitive corrective surgery will need detailed planning and will be decided after the infection is controlled," Sharma said.

She was found to be have suffered severe injuries in her perineum and the required colostomy procedure to divert stools has been done, he said.

Accused arrestedThe accused in rape of a five-year-old girl in Delhi was arrested from Muzaffarpur in Bihar on Friday night, according to reports. He is now being brought to Delhi on transit remand.

A team of Delhi Police, with help from local police, arrested Manoj Kumar, 22 from Chiknauta village under Karza police station in Muzaffarpur, about 70 km from Muzaffarpur, early Saturday, a district police official said. Muzaffarpur residents demand death for rape accused

"After he was arrested, Manoj Kumar was produced in the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Muzaffarpur and the court granted a three-day transit remand to Delhi Police," the official said.

Police accused the garment factory worker of repeatedly attacking the child inside a locked room over 48 hours after abducting her Monday in New Delhi.

"It is the act of a monster," senior Patna police official Ravindar Kumar told AFP, saying the suspect was booked on charges of rape, attempted murder and illegal confinement.

Activists belonging to Aam Aadmi Party protested outside Delhi Police Headquarters alleging police apathy in the case while others staged a demonstration outside AIIMS Hospital in solidarity with the girl.

The five-year-old girl who was brutally raped and assaulted allegedly by a neighbour while being held captive and starved for two days is battling for life after she contracted infection from foreign objects inserted in her body.

The victim is being treated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and is stable and conscious but doctors said that the next 48 hours will be crucial for her.

As the incident sparked an outcry in the national capital, which saw massive protests over the gangrape of a paramedical student barely four months ago, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said he was "deeply disturbed" with the brutality committed on the child and asked the society to work to root out the evil.

Adding to the outrage, the cops allegedly offered the victim's family Rs. 2,000 to hush up the case and made insensitive remarks while assistant commissioner of police B S Ahlwat slapped a girl protester at least four times which left her bleeding in an ear.

As the PM expressed anger over the treatment meted out to the protesters, Delhi Police on Friday night suspended the ACP. Two other officials faced similar action on the charge of trying to hush up the case even as an inquiry was ordered.

The horrific incident took place in east Delhi's Gandhi Nagar. The girl, who was missing from April 15 evening, was rescued on April 17 from the ground floor of the building where her family was staying.